Commodores conquered in first final

As the usual post-game festivities associated with any championship game concluded, Bayside Coach Stephen Piorkowski prepared to disrupt the scripted scene on the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University on Sunday afternoon with action plucked straight from the pages of Hollywood.
“You want me to break it?” Piorkowski asked his Commodores as he held the runner-up plaque for reaching the PSAL Class A finals for the first time as a program over his muscular knees with a wry smile.
“Break it! Break it!” the Bayside softball team responded in unison as their apparent distress over a lopsided loss turned to ebullient hollers.
Piorkowski refrained from duplicating the final scene from the original Bad News Bears in which the overachieving little league team chucked their consolation trophy at the winning team. Instead, the victory lap by the Tottenville Pirates carrying their fifth straight championship banner proved to be the most animated moment of Bayside’s season-ending 10-0 loss.
Piorkowski, who since taking over the program 11 years ago has established them as a city power, leading the Commodores to eight Final Four appearances and now a city championship game berth, wanted to illustrate to his team their main ambition remains a title and they should not resign themselves to accept anything less.
“Setting goals is important,” Piorkowski said. “When you have setbacks you need adjustments.”
There was no adjusting to the Staten Island juggernaut, who finished a perfect 22-0, has now won their last 45 games against PSAL competition and allowed just two runs the entire postseason while plating 58. Tottenville’s relentless attack battered staff ace Nicole Marra. She was brilliant in leading the Commodores to the final, winning three consecutive elimination games by allowing just one earned run and striking out 31 in 19 near flawless frames.
The Pirates, however, tattooed the hard-throwing right-hander for nine hits and 10 runs, including eighth-place hitter Samantha Nicholo’s two-run triple in the second. Marra worked a scoreless first before giving up those two runs in the second, four in the fourth and four more in the fifth.
“I had to work the corners,” Marra said. “You can’t throw anything down the middle against them.”
Unfortunately, Marra found too much of the plate at times, and the Pirates took advantage.
Bayside understood the daunting challenge of defeating a dynastic team but also claimed to have an emotional letdown from a momentous victory over second-seeded James Madison to reach the finals, a dramatic 1-0 victory.
Yet, even in defeat, there was a lot they could be proud of.
“It was amazing to get this far,” said Danielle Brustmeyer, who had one of Bayside’s three hits off Pirates windmiller Alyssa Corvino. “I was really impressed with our team this season.”